CVE-2026-23425 | THREATINT

Description

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: KVM: arm64: Fix ID register initialization for non-protected pKVM guests In protected mode, the hypervisor maintains a separate instance of the `kvm` structure for each VM. For non-protected VMs, this structure is initialized from the host's `kvm` state. Currently, `pkvm_init_features_from_host()` copies the `KVM_ARCH_FLAG_ID_REGS_INITIALIZED` flag from the host without the underlying `id_regs` data being initialized. This results in the hypervisor seeing the flag as set while the ID registers remain zeroed. Consequently, `kvm_has_feat()` checks at EL2 fail (return 0) for non-protected VMs. This breaks logic that relies on feature detection, such as `ctxt_has_tcrx()` for TCR2_EL1 support. As a result, certain system registers (e.g., TCR2_EL1, PIR_EL1, POR_EL1) are not saved/restored during the world switch, which could lead to state corruption. Fix this by explicitly copying the ID registers from the host `kvm` to the hypervisor `kvm` for non-protected VMs during initialization, since we trust the host with its non-protected guests' features. Also ensure `KVM_ARCH_FLAG_ID_REGS_INITIALIZED` is cleared initially in `pkvm_init_features_from_host` so that `vm_copy_id_regs` can properly initialize them and set the flag once done.

PUBLISHED Reserved 2026-01-13 | Published 2026-04-03 | Updated 2026-05-11 | Assigner Linux

HIGH: 8.8CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:H